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Gen. 21:1 "And
the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and
the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2
For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son
in his old age, at the set time of which God
had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the
name of his son that was born unto him, whom
Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham
circumcised his son Isaac being eight days
old, as God had commanded him. 5 And Abraham
was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac
was born unto him. 6 And Sarah said, God
hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear
will laugh with me. 7 And she said, Who
would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah
should have given children suck? for I have
born him a son in his old age."
To
the above we make the following
observations:
1. God keeps his
promises and he does it exactly as he says
he will.
2. God restored
both Abraham and Sarah to the time of life
so that Sarah could bear a son.
3. God also gave
seed to Sarah and Sarah conceived by the
strength that God had given her.
4. The child was
named Isaac in obedience to the command of
God.
5. The child was
born at God's set time.
6. Isaac was
circumcised at eight days of age, just
according to the commandment of God.
7. Sarah now
readily admits that she had laughed at the
idea of having a child at her age, but now
in joy she knows that others will rejoice at
the news of the great power of God who had
restored her to the time of life and had
given her seed and granted that a son would
be born in hers and Abrahams old age.
8. The above
illustrates that Isaac was a child of God's
promise. God promised a child a full year
before he was born. God caused the child to
be born of parents who were unable to have
children in their old age. God restored the
parents to the time of life and granted the
child to be born in God's exact appointed
time. This corresponds to Gal. 4:28, "Now
we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children
of promise." We are promised to be born of
the spirit of God before the foundation of
the world. Next, we are born of the Spirit
contrary to our flesh nature which is dead
in trespasses and sins. Moreover, we are
born spiritually at God's appointed time.
Our spiritual birth is according to God's
sovereign power. Additionally, joy is a
fruit of the Spirit and God makes us to
rejoice over our spiritual birth.
Gen. 21:8-13 The Two Covenants
Gen. 21:8 "And
the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham
made a great feast the same day that Isaac
was weaned. 9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar
the Egyptian, which she had born unto
Abraham, mocking. 10 Wherefore she said unto
Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her
son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not
be heir with my son, even with Isaac. 11 And
the thing was very grievous in Abraham's
sight because of his son. 12 And God said
unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy
sight because of the lad, and because of thy
bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto
thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac
shall thy seed be called. 13 And also of the
son of the bondwoman will I make a nation,
because he is thy seed."
There should
be no doubt that the above events took place
just as the scriptures describe them to us.
Yet there is very much more contained in the
message than just the natural occurrences.
Sometimes when we study the scriptures,
great nuggets of truth are not revealed unto
us until later on in the scriptures. The
scriptures are a progressive revelation of
the great truths of God and his grace.
First, we will
examine the natural lessons in the above.
Weaning is a significant event in the
development of a small child. It is a break
from the dependency of the child from its
mothers milk to in some small way to begin
to feed itself. The Lord speaks to us in
Isaiah of our need to advance spiritually
from our dependency just upon the milk of
the word: Isa. 28:9 "Whom shall he teach
knowledge? and whom shall he make to
understand doctrine? them that are weaned
from the milk, and drawn from the breasts."
To acknowledge
and celebrate this significant event in the
life of Isaac, Abraham prepared a great
feast for his son. In the United States we
celebrate people's birthdays as being some
sort of milestone. Often times we have
feasts on a person's birthday. In the bible
times, people were more into celebrating
significant events such as weaning, puberty,
marriage, and significant national
occurrences.
When Sarah saw
Ishmael the son of Hagar mocking her son
Isaac, it angered her. No mother would want
someone else to mock her children. She was
especially outraged since Ishmael was the
son of a bondwoman. It is not appropriate
in any culture for bondservants to mock the
free. Sarah's anger prompted her to tell
Abraham to "Cast out this bondwoman and her
son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not
be heir with my son, even with Isaac." This
upset Abraham because Ishmael was also his
son. He, no doubt, loved Ishmael as well as
Isaac. God, however, told Abraham to
hearken unto the voice of Sarah, "for in
Isaac shall they seed be called." At the
same time, God promised Abraham that he
would take care of Ishmael and make him a
great nation because he is Abraham's seed.
These natural
occurrences lead us to the more significant
spiritual parallels brought out to us in
Gal. 4:22-31: 22 "For it is written, that
Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid,
the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was
of the bondwoman was born after the flesh;
but he of the freewoman was by promise. 24
Which things are an allegory: for these are
the two covenants; the one from the mount
Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is
Agar. 25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in
Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now
is, and is in bondage with her children. 26
But Jerusalem which is above is free, which
is the mother of us all. 27 For it is
written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest
not; break forth and cry, thou that
travailest not: for the desolate hath many
more children than she which hath an
husband. 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. 29 But as then
he that was born after the flesh persecuted
him that was born after the Spirit, even so
it is now. 30 Nevertheless what saith the
scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her
son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not
be heir with the son of the freewoman. 31 So
then, brethren, we are not children of the
bondwoman, but of the free."
An allegory is
defined as symbolic work: a work in which
the characters and events are to be
understood as representing other things and
symbolically expressing a deeper, often
spiritual, moral, or political meaning.
Abraham's two
wives and two sons are symbolic of the two
covenants of worship that God established.
The book of Galatians confronts the issue
that some from the church at Judea had
taught that the Gentile converts must be
circumcised in order to be saved. This
error had taken root in the churches of
Galatia which mostly consisted of Gentile
converts. This error was rooted in some
wanting to bring over elements of the law
covenant that God had made with the children
of Israel in Mount Sinai and make it a
requirement in New Testament worship.
In the
allegory, Abraham is typical of God and the
two wives are typical of the two covenants
of worship that God established. We first
notice that there are only two covenants of
worship that God has ever established and
will ever establish.
The first
covenant was given by God to the children of
Israel at Mount Sinai. It was a covenant
that gendered to bondage. The law required
perfection and the children of Israel were
not perfect and could not keep the law
perfectly. Failure to keep the law brought
them under the curse of the law, hence
bondage. The law was not something that you
could keep 90% of it and be okay. The law
required you keep 100% of it. Failure to
keep a single item of the law made you a
transgressor of the law. As we read in Gal.
3:10: "For as many as are of the works of
the law are under the curse: for it is
written, Cursed is every one that continueth
not in all things which are written in the
book of the law to do them." The
worshippers under the law were in bondage to
the law. They were bondservants to the
law.
The second
covenant was given by Jesus Christ when he
journeyed in the flesh here on earth: John
1:17 "For the law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." True
worship today is under the covenant of
grace. In this covenant our eternal
salvation is by grace alone through the
atoning blood of Christ. This covenant of
grace is the freewoman (just as Sarah was a
freewoman). Those who worship under the
covenant of grace are free (just as Isaac
was free). The covenant of grace is free
and the worshippers under the covenant of
grace are free as well. This covenant of
grace is spelled out for us in Rom. 8:29,
30: "For whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of
his Son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover whom he did
predestinate, them he also called: and whom
he called, them he also justified: and whom
he justified, them he also glorified."
Next, Ishmael
mocked Isaac. But as then he that was born
after the flesh persecuted him that was born
after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Similarly the worshippers under the law
covenant have always been the ones that
persecuted the worshippers under the
covenant of grace. In Paul's day, the
Pharisees and Sadducees persecuted the
Lord's true worshippers to the death. This
continued on for about 1800 years when those
who worshipped under some legalistic works
system have persecuted the worshippers under
the covenant of grace.
"Cast
out the bondwoman and her son: for the son
of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the
son of the freewoman. 31 So then, brethren,
we are not children of the bondwoman, but of
the free." This teaches us that as we
worship today, we are not to bring in
elements of the Old Law covenant into our
practice of worship as that will lead us
into bondage. We are to cast out the Law
Covenant as a means of worship and only
worship as we are directed in the New
Covenant of Grace given to us by Jesus
Christ. |
